Essex High School captured its third straight state high school academic championship on Saturday, coming from behind in the championship match to win the Vermont-NEA Scholars' Bowl at the University of Vermont.

Essex overcame an early 115-point deficit to defeat Burlington, 415-370, in the finale of the question-and-answer competition to win the Scholars' Bowl for the fourth time time in the last five years. It was Essex's sixth overall championship, trailing only Hanover's seven titles in the 32-year history of the competition.

Seniors Matt Bergeron, Martin Deutsch, Jason Yin and Logan Brunet, junior Omkar Borse and sophomore Lauren Whitehouse were the competing students for Essex, which earns an all-expenses-paid trip to represent Vermont at the NAQT National Championship Tournament in Chicago on May 30. The team is coached by Lea Ann Smith.

Essex, which entered the day with the top seed, started by cruising past Middlebury, 535-205, in the semifinal round. Essex then fell behind Burlington 150-35 in the championship game before rallying to take a 185-180 lead entering the last of the three rounds of competition. Burlington went back in front by as much as 250-205 in the final round, but Essex responded with six straight correct answers — four of them from Yin — and slowly pulled away down the stretch..

Burlington advanced to the title game for the first time since 2001, topping South Burlington 460-230 in the quarterfinals and outlasting Champlain Valley, 505-365, in one of the highest-scoring matches in league history in the semifinals. South Burlington won the Medlar Cup, the tournament's second-tier competition, before it's loss to South Burlington.

The Scholars' Bowl is a school year-long competition that features regional tournaments in the fall and playoffs after the new year.

The March 28 participants qualified by winning at least three of their five matches on the first day of the playoffs on Jan. 31.

The Vermont Chapter of the National Education Association sponsors the tournament, which has been testing the state's brightest high school students since the 1983-84 school year. To find out more about the organization, visit t www.scholarsbowl.org.